MarissaMayer
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Mozilla and Yahoo sue each other over default search engine deal
Deals between web browser suppliers and search engine providers are big business. For Mozilla, agreements with search engines have brought in as much as US$300 million a year, which accounts for 90 percent of its income. So the stakes are high amid the latest tech company quarrel, which sees Mozilla end its partnership with Yahoo due to claims it hadn't been paid. Neither party is happy with the situation, so they're suing each other.
Yahoo hackers accessed 32 million accounts with forged cookies
In a regulatory filing, Yahoo revealed some additional details about data breaches that have affected over a billion accounts. Among that information is the news that hackers who obtained Yahoo's code and were able to create their own cookies were able to access 32 million accounts through 2015 and 2016. Additionally, the 10-K statement provided to the SEC says that Yahoo notified 26 individuals and consulted with law enforcement after it became aware that state-sponsored hackers had exploited its account management tool for access.
Marissa Mayer to resign from Yahoo's board of directors
Marissa Mayer has been virtually synonymous with Yahoo ever since she took the helm, but things are about to get a bit muddier now that the Verizon's acquisition is near closing. Yahoo has announced that Mayer, co-founder David Filo and four other people are resigning from the company's board of directors once Verizon officially takes control. According to the SEC filing, it's "not due to any disagreement" with how the business is run -- it's just that Yahoo will technically be considered an investment company once the buyout wraps up, and doesn't believe it needs more than five people on its board after that.
Yahoo Mail disabled forwarding, good luck switching now (update)
The Yahoo email hack and government surveillance claims aren't going to go away no matter how much CEO Marissa Mayer wants them to. For users trying to flee the service, the beleaguered internet company is making it rather difficult. That's because since the beginning of the month, the company has disabled email forwarding according to The Associated Press. From the sounds of it, though, it's just for folks who've recently tried the feature, not people who've had it set up prior.
Silicon Valley bro sues Yahoo for reverse discrimination
This week hasn't been particularly kind to beleaguered internet company Yahoo. CEO Marissa Mayer, former chief marketing officer Kathy Savitt and editor-in-chief of Yahoo News Megan Liberman have been accused of engaging in gender discrimination. According to The Mercury News, a lawsuit has been filed by former editorial director Scott Ard on the grounds that "Mayer encouraged and fostered the use of (an employee performance-rating system) to accommodate management's subjective biases and personal opinions, to the detriment of Yahoo's male employees."
Verizon reportedly looking for a $1 billion discount on Yahoo
Back in July, Verizon (the parent company of Engadget) agreed to acquire (most of) Yahoo for $4.83 billion, and normally, that would be the end of things. However, since then, Yahoo confirmed it suffered a massive security breach in 2014, and reports claim that its security chief quit last year after discovering its participation in bulk US government surveillance of incoming emails. Now, the New York Post cites multiple sources claiming that executive Tim Armstrong is upset about the lack of disclosure and seeking to get out of the deal or cut the price.
Yahoo reportedly downplayed security for years
That massive Yahoo hack might have been less of a one-off disaster and more a symptom of larger, systemic problems with security at the internet pioneer. New York Times sources claim that Yahoo made security a relatively low priority for years, prioritizing convenience when possible and reacting only after serious incidents (such as bug bounties following an account breach in 2012). Reportedly, the company even skipped out on safeguards that are considered virtually mandatory in many places -- CEO Marissa Mayer rejected a password reset out of concern that it would drive users away from Yahoo Mail.
Verizon is buying struggling giant Yahoo for $4.83 billion
After months of gesturing and negotiations, Yahoo has finally found a buyer: Verizon. The mobile operator, which is also the parent company of AOL and Engadget, confirmed today that it will pay $4.83 billion for Yahoo's web business. All of the company's advertising, content, search and mobile operations will be transferred to Verizon and merged with AOL.
Verizon is reportedly close to buying Yahoo for $5 billion (updated)
Remember when Verizon bought out AOL (Engadget's parent brand) last year? Then get ready for deja vu: the communications giant is reportedly in closing talks to purchase Yahoo later this year. Sources familiar with the deal have told Bloomberg and Recode that Verizon is offering almost $5 billion to take over Yahoo's core business and real estate holdings. The deal still isn't finalized, but sources say it's close. That's good news for Tim Armstrong, who's been hoping to use the buyout to expand the AOL userbase from 700 million to almost two billion.
Twitter remains quiet about OurMine attack on its CEO's account
Early Saturday morning the team that has been breaking into high-profile social media accounts managed to temporarily hijack Twitter accounts for the CEOs of Yahoo and Twitter. Despite repeated requests from Engadget, Twitter has not commented on the incident and Jack Dorsey has not tweeted about it. Twitter's Trust & Info Security Officer Michael Coates did take time to refute a claim made by the OurMine hackers, after they posted a screenshot they claimed proves Vine has access to its users passwords.
Activist investor wants to replace all Yahoo's directors
In many ways, Yahoo is the internet's metaphorical grandparent. We don't visit nearly enough, and we're all avoiding thinking about what might happen to it. Well, it looks like an equally metaphorical rich Aunt is stepping in and taking care of that for us. The WSJ reports that "activist investor" Starboard Value LP is coming good on an earlier threat of getting rid of Yahoo's existing directors, and putting forward nine new ones, of its choosing, in their place.
WSJ: Yahoo may sell itself off
Yahoo's attempt at turning around its fortunes hasn't gone that well: on top of sagging profits and departing execs, it's still heavily dependent on both its Japanese business as well as its stake in Chinese internet giant Alibaba. And now, it sounds like the company might want to hand over the reins to someone else. Sources for the Wall Street Journal understand that Yahoo is holding a "marathon" number of board meetings where the possibility of selling the company's core business is on the table. It's not certain how serious the web pioneer might be, but private equity firms are reportedly taking a peek.
Yahoo's latest purchase is digital fashion community Polyvore
Marissa Mayer opened up the Yahoo warchest once again, and this time it was to buy the "leading social shopping site," Polyvore. Yahoo's purchasing the whole kit and caboodle from the sounds of it too with Mayer writing on her Tumblr page that it's acquiring not just the service, but the team that built it as well. She says the purchase will work to bolster Yahoo's digital content growth and that current CEO Jess Lee (apparently a Polyvore community member prior to joining the company proper) will report directly to her. And if you're a current Polyvore enthusiast yourself, it doesn't sound like too much should change aside from where current employees report for work -- we'll let you know if those turn out to be offices for ants. [Image credit: Pink Cow Photography/Flickr]
Yahoo's latest purchase brings pretty graphs to Tumblr
Marissa Mayer's been in full-on spending mode since taking over the reins at Yahoo. As such, we're not surprised to find out that the company has made yet another acquisition: Vizify. Yahoo's new purchase, a startup based in Portland, Ore., focuses on turning social data into interactive media. Most recently, Vizify's tech could be found powering Twitter tool #FollowMe, which mashes up pics, tweets and Vines to make a short highlight reel for users. The idea being that, at a glance, other people could see what they would gain by following you on the microblogging network. Naturally, with social sites like Tumblr and Qwiki already a part of Yahoo, it's easy to see why there was interest in Vizify -- and chances are Mayer isn't quite done yet. Neither outfit disclosed financial terms of the acquisition, but Vizify did send out an email to its users about what to expect going forward, which you can find after the break.
Yahoo discloses US government data request stats: over 12,000 in six months
Yahoo has just revealed just how many government requests for data it's received in the past six months, and it's beaten out Apple, Microsoft and Facebook. Marissa Mayer and General Counsel Ron Bell noted in a Tumblr post that the search giant received between 12,000 and 13,000 requests, "inclusive of criminal, Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), and other requests," between December 1st, 2012 and May 31st, 2013. According to Mayer and Bell, the majority of requests relate to "fraud, homicides, kidnappings, and other criminal investigations." Naturally, Yahoo notes that it can't specify how many FISA requests are in that figure due to their classified nature, but it "strongly urge(s) the federal government to reconsider its stance on this issue." Mayer and Co. also announced that their first "global law enforcement transparency report" will debut later in the summer, and will include data on the first half of 2013. It's not a one-time occurrence either -- the firm plans to update the dossier twice each year.
Yahoo rumors ahead of Monday's event include $1.1 billion Tumblr buy, Flickr updates
Earlier today, Yahoo sent press invites to a "product-related" event in New York City Monday afternoon and there are already two separate rumors about the company's plans. The first, from Bloomberg, concerns the event specifically and cites a "person familiar with the matter" reporting we'll hear about new updates for Yahoo's once-mighty Flickr photo service. The second is from AllThingsD which has upgraded rumors of a Tumblr purchase from possible to possibly imminent, saying the company's board will meet Sunday to decide whether it will make a $1.1 billion all-cash offer for the site. Since new CEO Marissa Mayer took over Yahoo has made a number of acquisitions with a focus on improving its homepage, content and app offerings including Flickr. That announcement is also penciled in for the 20th, but whatever actually goes down you can be sure we'll have the details as they're unveiled around 4PM ET.
Yahoo, Twitter partnership brings tweets to your newsfeed
The ever-changing web portal that is Yahoo under Marissa Mayer will receive its next tweak with help from Twitter. In addition to providing summarized stories, Yahoo newsfeed will soon include occasional tweets based on your interests. Folks in the US can expect to see the change in the coming days across desktop and mobile versions of Yahoo -- just try to keep your excitement contained to 140 characters.
Zuckerberg, Schmidt, Mayer and others back FWD.us tech political lobby group
If you thought that Mark Zuckerberg's aspirations ended at commanding your smartphone, then think again. The Facebook chief has teamed up with a raft of other tech heavyweights including Eric Schmidt, Marissa Mayer and Elon Musk to form FWD.us, a political lobby group designed to promote tech-friendly causes. The first issue it wants to tackle is immigration reform to make it easier to woo foreign engineering talent, but it also has designs on scientific research, education reform and job creation. Evidently, these people still have spare time even after their stressful day jobs.
Yahoo reveals new homepage look with social streams, optimizations for smartphones and tablets
Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer took to the company's official blog to unveil a refreshed Yahoo homepage that's "more intuitive and personal." The basic layout hasn't changed all that much (and the real deal hasn't switched over just yet), but Meyer says that the site is now optimized across mobile devices, with newly designed apps able to tap into your Facebook profile to broadcast your friends' birthdays to this new, more social-centric homepage. Recommendations from the social network are also gifted space on the new entry page, but it's email and news that seem to take priority in the redesign, located in eye-catching positions on both desktop and mobile iterations. The CEO added that Yahoo isn't finished yet, noting that the redesign we're looking at above is "the first of many." The new look will roll out across US browsers over the next few days.
Marissa Mayer planning to reveal her plans for Yahoo's turnaround tomorrow
The first "all hands" meeting of a CEO is always a time for high drama, so we're expecting big things tomorrow. New boss Marissa Mayer is telling employees about her plans to turn around the faded internet giant on Tuesday, with the same slides she used in closed-door board meetings in an act of "radical transparency." Yahoo's fortunes have been on the slide for a while, after Scott Thompson's scandal-ridden departure, patent clashes, security breaches and the sale of its Alibaba stake in order to spend $3.65 billion on quelling a shareholder revolution. A report from AllThingsD says that Mayer's likely to introduce progress and goal tracking as a measure of performance. The new system will run from the company as a whole right down to individual employees, something that she picked up from her tenure at Mountain View. The same report has revealed that Mayer's pushing to improve the consumer experience in its Homepage, Mail and Flickr offerings (amongst others) at the expense of advertising -- a move that'll win her plenty of fans used to the minimalist Google homepage.
